Apple has released the final version of iOS 8, known as the Golden Master (GM) build, to those registered with the iOS Developer program. The final build is 12A365, and is notably unavailable as an OTA download from existing iOS 8 beta releases.

Developers can gain access to and download the appropriate iOS 8 GM IPSW files through the iOS Developer Center. The supported hardware remains the same as the earliest beta builds, including iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPad 2, iPad Air, iPad with Retina display, iPod touch 5th gen, and both iPad Mini models. New iPhone 6 models will ship with iOS 8 preinstalled.

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Apple has released iTunes 11.4 for OS X, the new version is required for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to sync and function properly after updating those devices to iOS 8, making it a highly recommended download for all Mac users.

Mac users can find the iTunes 11.4 update available through the Software Update mechanism of OS X, and all iTunes users can also find the update available through the iTunes application itself.
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The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be available for pre-order starting this Friday, September 12, with the actual shipping date arriving a week later on Friday, September 19. That latter Friday will also be when they appear for purchase in physical Apple Store locations.

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Apple has announced that iOS 8 will be released on Wednesday, September 17, two days prior to the release of iPhone 6. As usual with iOS, the major software update will arrive as a free download from the Over-the-Air update mechanism, or through iTunes.

iOS 8 is compatible with iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Air, iPad Mini, iPod touch 5th gen, and iPad Mini with Retina display. The new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will ship with iOS 8 pre-installed.

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Apple has debuted the highly anticipated iWatch device… and it’s called Apple Watch. The device is unlike anything Apple has made before, and the gadget features a completely new interface that is navigated with a digital crown located along the side of the device – but it also has a touch screen that is pressure sensitive. This thing is incredibly innovative, has a variety of sensors, interfaces with your iPhone, and does so much more. Here’s a peak at the Apple Watch (officially, WATCH) which will be out next year, with some details, tons of pictures, and some must-see videos of the device in action.

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The all new iPhone 6 has been announced, and pricing closely follows prior iPhone models. But there’s a catch; the two upper-end models have both doubled their capacity without raising the prices. That means that if you skip the intro-model of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, you’ll get twice as much storage capacity. Here’s the breakdown on pricing:

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As expected, Apple debuted two new iPhone 6 models today. The first, dubbed the iPhone 6, has a 4.7″ display, while the second, called iPhone 6 Plus, has a 5.5″ display. The internal components for both devices remain the same, making the screen size the differentiating factor between the two models.

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There’s a rather amusing Easter Egg built into the Speakable Items function of Mac OS X Accessibility options that lets your Mac tell you bad jokes. Yes, seriously. Sounds goofy, maybe even pointless? Well that’s why it’s an Easter Egg, so if that isn’t compelling I don’t know what is. Let’s dig in and learn how to access this rather silly joke routine ability hidden away on your Mac.

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iOS 8 will be released to the public very soon with its myriad of new features and enhancements, and that makes now a great time to prepare your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch for the major system update. We’ll break it down into several easy steps so that you’ll have your iOS device ready to install the latest version when it arrives in the near future.

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A device claiming to be a functioning and activated white iPhone 6 model with 4.7″ display has been shown in a series of videos and photographs coming out of China. In the images and video, you see what appears to be the standard iOS home screen, elements of iOS running in Chinese language, and what looks like a very refined and well built iPhone-like device. The big question of course; is this really an iPhone, or is it a fake?

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This weeks featured Mac setup comes to us from Gerard F., the Managing Director of a creative services company. Let’s jump right in and learn a bit more:

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We’re just a few days away from getting a look at the Apple wearable device, dubbed the iWatch by fans and the tech press. And while a new report from the New York Times provides some juicy details about features like a flexible curved glass display, nobody has any idea what the iWatch will actually look like… and neither do we. But one things for certain, the iWatch definitely won’t look like these wrist-born wearable devices.

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Quitting apps gracefully is typically done through the appropriate application menu by choosing “Quit”, but the Mac GUI is obviously inaccessible from the command line of Mac OS X. So when most command line users are confronted with the need to exit an application, they wind up using the ‘kill’ command to terminate the process and forcibly quit the app, rather than issuing a ‘soft’ kill. The obvious problem with terminating an app is that while it does exit the application, you may lose data in that process, and even session restoration caches may not be adequate to restore the data. Thus, whenever possible, it’s usually best for users to gracefully quit an application instead.

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The wearable device that Apple is set to debut on September 9th will feature a flexible curved glass display, support mobile payments, and be charged wirelessly, according to the most detailed report yet from the New York Times. Additionally, the device will perform a combination of tasks related to health and fitness monitoring, and also offer some mobile computing features.

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Apple has announced a live stream will be available for the planned September 9 event. The event and accompanying video stream will begin at 10AM Pacific Time on the morning of the 9th, and though it’s not specified, will likely last an hour or two.

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Troubleshooting complex issues on a Mac can be challenging as is, and if you’re ever confronted with some complex situations you may find the command line to lend a major hand. In this case, advanced users can boot a Mac into safe mode through the usage of the nvram utility, a tool which allows users to directly manipulate firmware variables. We’ll use nvram to enable safe booting entirely through the command line, preventing a user from needing to use the standard Mac method to boot into safe mode by holding down a Shift key upon system start of Mac OS X, this opens the door for remotely enabling safe mode and improved remote troubleshooting, and for a variety of scripting applications.

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The networksetup utility offers a command line interface to configuring the variety of Mac networking features available in Mac OS X. We’ve discussed networksetup and accompanying features many times here for more advanced purposes, but one of the simpler uses of networksetup is that it can list out every piece of networking hardware attached to a Mac, it’s accompanying device interface, and it’s associated address. This works to list both internal networking components and external connected networking devices as well, so if you’re using an external NIC card, you should find it here.

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Have a favorite song that you want to use to seed a new music station? Maybe you’re looking to find some new tunes to hear based on a particular song or artist? iTunes Radio makes this process simple, and you can instantly create a new iTunes Radio station from any playing song or artist, whether that song is in your music library or playing from an existing iTunes Radio station. The latter situation is fairly well known by Radio users, but creating a new station from songs that already exist in an iTunes playlist is less well known. This works with any iTunes client that supports the Radio feature, whether it’s the desktop iTunes app or the Music app in iOS.

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